The Business of Learning to Teach: A Critical Metaphor Analysis of One Teacher’s Journey

Authors

Lauren Gatti, University of Nebraska‐LincolnFollow
Theresa Catalano, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

10-2014

Citation

Published in Teaching and Teacher Education 45 (2015), pp. 149–160; doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2014.10.003

Comments

Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. Used by permission.

Abstract

This article analyzes the learning to teach process of one novice teacher, Rachael, enrolled in an Urban Teacher Residency (UTR) in Harbor City, United States. Building on Loh and Hu’s (2014) scholarship on neoliberalism and novice teachers, we employ Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) to make visible the ways in which Rachael contends with conflicting frames of learning to teach—TEACHING IS A JOURNEY vs. TEACHING IS A BUSINESS— within her program. Rachael encounters three primary obstacles: programmatic incompatibility, pedagogical paralysis, and, ultimately, programmatic abandonment. The discussion explores the potential consequences of learning to teach in neoliberal contexts.

Includes Supplementary appendices (Interview questions & IRB forms).